Rioting hooligans? They need tough love says David Cameron

DAVID Cameron yesterday blamed a lack of “moral boundaries” in British society for last month’s riots.

A street engulfed in flames as police try to control violence and looting in Hackney, east London []

The Prime Minister called for a “tough love” approach towards young hooligans but said the violence must be a “wake-up moment” for the country over the need to act responsibly.

He stressed that the disturbances could not simply be blamed on a “criminal underclass” but said they were not politically motivated either.

Mr Cameron said: “It was looting, it was thieving, it was criminality, it was appalling copycat behaviour. We have to identify what happened and then learn the right lessons.

“I think those lessons are largely about a number of people in our ­society who don’t have proper moral boundaries.

“And we need to take a good hard look at ourselves and say we have got to do better at bringing up our children, at instilling discipline in school, at having a welfare system that rewards work rather than idleness.”

I think we all need to have a wake-up moment in terms of exercising our responsibilities.

David Cameron

There should also be “a tough response through the criminal justice system, to say that the country won’t put up with this sort of behaviour”.

The riots included a “hardcore” of lawbreakers with no sense of right and wrong, Mr Cameron said, but also people who “were just drawn into it, who passed the broken shop window and popped in and nicked a telly.

“That is a sign of moral collapse, of failing to recognise the difference between right and wrong.

“So I don’t think you can simply say this is just a criminal underclass and no other problem at all.

“I think it does go broader than that and I think we all need to have a wake-up moment in terms of exercising our responsibilities.”

Calling for action to “mend the parts of our society that are broken”, he vowed to find the cash for promised intervention to turn around the lives of 120,000 problem families.

Dubbing himself a “common sense Conservative”, Mr Cameron added: “For some of these children who have ended up in this terrible situation there were probably failures in their background and their families, there was probably a shortage of not just respect and boundaries but also love.

“But you do need, when they cross the line and break the law, to be very tough. So, to me, tough love sums it up.”

Mr Cameron later became embroiled in a row over BBC coverage of the riots which was criticised by some at the time for, among other things, describing the looters as “protesters”.

BBC Radio 4’s Today programme presenter Evan Davis asked if Mr Cameron saw any likeness between the trouble and the antics of the Bullingdon drinking club to which the PM belonged at Oxford University.

After Mr Davis said the club might be termed a youthful “gang”, Mr Cameron denied witnessing crimes such as window smashing but added: “We all do stupid things when we are young.”

Pressed on wider causes of the riots, he hit out at BBC coverage, agreeing there had been problems with lack of responsibility in wider society, such as by banks and MPs, but that was no excuse for not tackling public disorder.

He said: “When you listen to the BBC there is a danger of putting all these things into a great mush and make that an excuse for not acting.”

A corporation spokesman said later: “The BBC’s coverage and analysis of the recent riots endeavoured to explore all aspects. We also sought to reflect a range of views.”

Mr Davis said on Twitter: “The point of the Bullingdon club question was not to point the finger at Cameron for hypocrisy, it was about whether there is a general decline and whether we can forgive youngsters caught up in stupid things.”